Miracle in Rwanda

Leslie Lewis Sword brilliantly transforms herself into a host of characters to tell the incredible story of Rwandan Genocide Survivor, Immaculée Ilibagiza, a real life messenger of hope.

Grace Rwanda supports the play, Miracle in Rwanda, based on the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza, telling the story of how she survived during the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The story also represents what other Rwandan survivors had to live through including Elizabeth and Marie Louise, Grace Rwanda Society’s Co-Founders.

Dates and Ticket Information after the link…

little i production presents
The Gala Vancouver Premiere Opening Night
Introduced by Bestselling Author SARK
When: Wed September 8th at 7pm
Where: Pacific Theatre
1440 12th Avenue West at Hemlock

TICKETS:
Sept 8th Gala and Afterparty ($49.50)
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE
The first 50 ticket buyers receive a free copy of
Immaculée’s NY Times Bestseller LEFT TO TELL

Sept 9 – 18 Fringe Festival run ($12 – $15)
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

GraceRwanda was featured on Global National News on July 16, 2010. Watch the segment.

Board members receive warm welcome at Rwinkwavu School

The schoolchildren are singing, dancing and drum­ming with all their hearts. Hundreds of villagers, their energy palpable, encircle their three visitors in jubilant celebra­tion, even encouraging the “Muzungus” (westerners) to join them in dance. Gratitude for their new school cannot be contained.

More than 600 students were part of the cel­ebration—with music, dancing and speeches–at the March 26 official announcement of Grace Rwanda’s partnership with the Rwinkwavu School. “Each speaker was so grateful for what Grace Rwanda has done,” says Franco Bordignon, Grace Rwanda’s vice chair. “I didn’t think we had done that much, but that’s not the way they saw it.”

The school that Grace Rwanda is helping to build has 1300 students, half studying in the morning and half in the afternoon. All the children walk to school; there are no bus­ses or parents dropping them off. Franco met one boy whose trip to and from school is 15 km; he starts walking to school at 5 a.m.

Franco traveled to Rwanda with Elizabeth Mujawamaliya Johnson, co-founder of Grace Rwanda and a Rwandan genocide survivor, and her husband Paul, the president of the organiza­tion. The welcome celebration, given in their honour, was just one of the highlights from their three weeks in Rwanda. The event was broadcast later that day on Rwandan national news.

During the trip, the board members saw the eight-classroom addition that Grace Rwanda had funded. Although the rooms still lack some finishing touches, the students were able to start taking classes indoors before the start of the rainy season.

On an April 3 community service day, villagers provided volunteer labour to complete the sidewalks around the new addition. Grace Rwanda funds were used to purchase the sand and gravel and to pay the ce­ment masons, but the rest of the labour to build the addition was provided by student and parent volunteers. Young students teamed up to carry buckets of water and sand, motivated by the prospect of new classrooms.

Another purpose of Grace Rwanda’s journey to Rwanda was to meet with Rwinkwavu civic leaders, the school principal and teachers. Together, they discussed the community’s needs and ways Grace Rwanda could continue to assist. A kitchen will be one of the next Grace Rwanda partnership projects. The school’s 1940’s kitchen was recently demolished due to safety concerns, with a small temporary one currently taking its place. For most of the children, their only meal is the one the school provides.

The visiting board members also met with Rwandan government and industry leaders. They spoke to representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meetings with the Rwandan Development Board and a coffee co-operative representing 1000 farmers may lead to direct Rwandan imports, which will assist Grace Rwanda in fundraising.

Finally, Grace Rwanda needed to finalize arrangements for a Grace Rwanda in-country agent to be in charge of the organization’s Rwanda-side opera­tions. Franco, Elizabeth and Paul are pleased to announce that Kigali-based Apollinaire Kayumba will assume this position, bringing Grace Rwanda one step closer to being able to effectively assist post-genocide communities.

Grace Rwanda Society was founded in response to the events in Rwanda of 1994. In 100 days between April 6th to July 4th, genocide claimed the lives of approximately one million people in Rwanda.  Grace Rwanda Society’s response is a commitment to supporting education for Rwanda’s young people. We believe that with education, Rwanda’s young people will continue to educate themselves and others, helping to create and sustain peace in Rwanda and in the world.  Our core values are compassion, accountability, respect, and empowerment.

Compassion

We will serve with empathy to alleviate distress and poverty.

Accountability

We will be accountable for the resources entrusted to us by others, adhering to the highest ethical standards.

Respect

We humbly commit to seeking to understand, valuing individual worth and diverse voices.

Empowerment

We will assist in strengthening community development that invests in sustainable economic, social and spiritual life.

Rwandan Genocide

A Brief History

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 saw the massacre of civilians –- primarily Tutsi –- as the attempted peace accord between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda broke down. The Hutu militia marked all Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers for extermination, and a 100-day reign of terror began hours after Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated on April 6.

Estimates of the number dead vary from 800,000 to 1,000,000 million people. Victims were typically butchered by machete. Given the population of Rwanda at the time of the slaughter, these estimates represent approximately 20% of the population – 400 people every hour, 7 people every minute.

UN troops were deployed to Rwanda late 1993 to oversee the peace accord under the leadership of UN Forces Commander-Canadian Forces General Romeo Dallaire. Heroically, Dallaire defied the UN directives in April 1994 to withdraw from Rwanda, and he remained with a small contingent of peacekeepers – spectators to the crime of genocide. Although Dallaire sought to direct UN and International attention to the horrific events occurring in Rwanda, the genocide was almost wholly ignored. Today, Dallaire’s work focuses on stopping the use of children as soldiers.

Rwandan survivors of the genocide –- many of them women who had been subject to genocidal rape, now deemed a crime against humanity –- were left to live out their personal grief as orphans, widows, HIV survivors and often sole survivors of their families.

Grace Rwanda seeks to extend mercy and caring to all Rwandans by investing in the youth of Rwanda and the communities in which they are a part.

Rwanda Fast Facts

• Rwanda is home to approximately 8 million people
• 60% of Rwandans live below the poverty line
• 67% of Rwandans are age 25 years or younger
• 64% of youth have lost both parents
• 10% of the Rwandan population are youth who are heads of families
• A Rwandan survey identifies 50% of boys and 90% of girls have never participated in organized sports
• Rwanda’s population growth rate of 2.9% will result in 16 million people by 2020

Statistics courtesy of Rwandan Government National & the Government of Kayonza District

Sunday June 27, 2010.
You are invited to an afternoon with speaker Carl Wilkens — A humanitarian aid worker in Rwanda since 1990, Carl Wilkens was the only American to remain in the country during the 1994 genocide. Each day he braved the deadly streets to bring food, water and medicine to orphans trapped around Kigali. His experiences have been featured in the New York Times, the PBS Frontline documentary “Ghosts of Rwanda,” and the National Public Radio documentary “The Few Who Stayed: Defying Genocide.”

Time: Sunday June 27, 2010 @ 2PM – 5PM
Location: St. Helen’s Church,  3871 Pandora St., Burnaby, BC (View Map)
There will be an opportunity to purchase Rwandan crafts, teas, coffees and fabrics.
Download PDF Invitation.

Grace Rwanda Spring 2010 Newsletter.  Click to download.

Grace Rwanda Fall 2009 Newsletter. Click to download.